Irdeto

There’s certainly hype around blockchain. Some believe that the distributed ledger and trustless consensus rules are revolutionary; with the potential to radically change existing business models. Yet, there’s also an association to a darker side. Will this innovative technology result in a proliferation of piracy?

One example of how business models could change is solutions like Livepeer.

A group of U.S. senators recently introduced a new bill (the ‘‘Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017’’) to address security vulnerabilities in connected devices. While this is a positive step toward improving baseline security for all devices bought and used by the government, it magnifies a much larger issue that is prevalent today in industries that are increasing their product’s connectivity to the Internet. Let me explain…

Sure, people share their Netflix – or your OTT service – user names and passwords with their buddies and families. Or their credentials get stolen and posted on the internet for illegal use. But is this a “solvable” problem, in the practical sense of the word? Or can you grow your OTT service despite credentials sharing?

Credentials sharing isn’t necessarily Darth Vader in the OTT galaxy
Trying to solve the “credentials sharing problem” is an impressive goal, but possibly a wasteful one and a diversion from the real problem – service abuse.

Pirates know what sells in their market. While content redistribution over the internet is a major global problem, we shouldn’t overlook control word sharing. In Africa, this is still a highly profitable business for pirates. Well, until they’re raided and sentenced that is!

Setting the sceneAs part of a long running investigation working with Multichoice Africa Limited (MAL), a cybercrime syndicate was identified in Egypt.

Android TV is a hot topic in the industry. Many operators appreciate the benefits it offers. Some of these are described in my blog comparing Android TV to middleware. But a major concern remains: “how much control will I give up to Google?” Probably less than you think!

Pirates move at internet speed. Unhindered by rules and regulations they continually adapt; leaving the content owners, media industry and legal institutions to play catchup. My earlier blog highlighted 3 initiatives in the fight against piracy , and in the last month or so there are more examples of how the tide might be starting to turn against the pirates.

European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling
Recently, the ECJ ruledon a long running case between BREIN (the Dutch anti-piracy group) and Filmspeler.nl, that selling streaming devices preloaded with pirate streaming links and add-ons is illegal.

Getting your OTT service to as many screens as possible is key to win customers. But the industry has made this difficult, with competing technologies doing the same thing on different devices. But reaching every device is about to get simpler.

Step 1, package once, serve many
The root of all evil started with DRM fragmentation.

With the proliferation of different ways to access pirated content, does site blocking have any impact? That was a question I received during a recent piracy panel discussion. Let’s have a look to see if it does.

What is it?

Put simply, site blocking is a technical means by which Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can disable consumer access to target sites. This can be by using DNS based -, Url- or IP blocking capabilities.

With consumers as the common denominator, it’s not surprising that similarities can be seen across some industries. In the media industry, the need for change to keep up with changing consumer demand is widely accepted. But what is the formula for success? Can any parallels be drawn with online retail?

Gone are the days where online piracy was an individual sharing illegal content with a few select “friends”. Today, online piracy is a highly sophisticated operation that often spans different countries and jurisdictions. To be effective in fighting this continually growing threat requires a team of experts.